Friends of the University Library
Newsletter 2017/2018
Welcome to the latest edition of the Friend’s Newsletter. I hope you will agree that 2017/18 marks another year of significant achievement for
the Library, demonstrating yet again the many innovative and effective ways in which our staff deliver high quality services in support of University teaching, research and engagement. As ever, technology lies at the heart of many of our service developments. Our new online learning resources are extremely professional and are already proving a huge hit with students. The Leganto online reading list system looks set to transform one of the most challenging services provided by academic libraries and with Collected Voices and Page Turners, technology is helping to open up Special Collections and Archives resources to new audiences. Archival Accreditation means that we now have national recognition of the range and quality of archival services that we provide. This is an important landmark in our plans to raise the profile and status of our Special Collections and Archives. Our Outreach Team capped another year of exciting and engaging projects with their amazing Civil War project, which not only featured on BBC Look North, but helped us secure yet another THELMA shortlisting for Outstanding Library Team. With the Office for Students placing even more emphasis on Universities engaging with schools well before students reach GCSE level, this aspect of our work will continue to be important in the years to come. YourSpace in the Philip Robinson Library has been transformed following the removal of the old compact shelving and the Walton Library has also benefited from a minimakeover. The Marjorie Robinson Library Rooms will have more work done this summer and we are working on plans for a major refresh of the main staff areas on level 2 of the Philip Robinson Library next summer. It’s a bit like painting the Forth Road Bridge - no sooner has one refurbishment been completed than we are planning the next!
This is my first newsletter as Librarian. I feel incredibly proud to have been entrusted with the Librarian’s role on a permanent basis, especially since I am the first woman to hold the role of University Librarian at Newcastle. I look forward to building on the excellent achievements of my predecessor, Wayne Connolly. The Friends of the University Library are an important part of the University Library family, and we are extremely grateful for the many and varied ways in which you support our work. Two particular highlights stand out this year – the beautiful display panels sponsored by the Friends to commemorate the formal opening of the Marjorie Robinson Library Rooms, and the project funding which enabled us to participate in the Wordsworth digitisation project. On behalf of all my Library colleagues, I would like to formally thank you for your continuing support and encouragement. I hope you enjoy this newsletter and we look forward to delivering and reporting on another round of exciting activities over the coming year. Jill Taylor-Roe, University Librarian
Contents Library Services News 5
Captivating Collections, Events and Exhibitions 16
Information for Friends old and new
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Contact Details 33
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Friends Membership Application Form
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Library Services News
and Gusto all the very best. Jill Taylor-Roe, previously Deputy Librarian to Wayne, was appointed as Wayne’s successor on 1st January 2018. Jill is doing a sterling job in covering both posts whilst we recruit a new Deputy Librarian.
Staffing News…and another year of comings and goings in the University Library We have had some significant and exciting changes in Library staffing over the past year. Wayne Connolly, Director of Academic Services and University Librarian, and Secretary to the Friends, retired early to allow himself the time and space to recover from illness, although insiders believe it was to spend more time with his wife Julie walking their Labrador puppy Gusto, and for Wayne to play his guitar/s. Wayne has not left us altogether though, as a member of the Friends he still attends and supports our events whenever he can. Thankfully Wayne is doing well but is missed by us all and we wish him, Julie
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In January 2018, our Medical Librarian, Erika Gavillet, secured a post at Swansea University and has moved on to chapters new. Linda Errington, previously Deputy in the Walton Library was appointed to the newly named post of Medical Sciences Librarian and we are recruiting to Linda’s vacant post which is currently being filled by Aimee Cook, Assistant Liaison Librarian, on a secondment. In April 2018, Jo Geary, Head of Business Management and Services, was seconded to the role of NU London Project and Change Manager for two years. Jo Wayne Connolly
Ros Clough and Susan Graham romped out of the Library to join that lucky band of ‘ladies who lunch and holiday!’ We wish them well and will no doubt see them again at one of the many library events.
Sheila Bennett and Ros Clough
now splits her time between London, Brighton (NU London Headquarters) and Newcastle. This move prompted some quick action to fill the gap and Jenny Campbell, Liaison Librarian for SaGE, who had been supporting Jo and other colleagues with Library building projects was seconded to Jo’s substantive post, with Paula Fitzpatrick, Head of Information Systems, taking on Jo’s learning and development role and Pamela Dodds, Joint Head of Technical Services, taking on some of Jo’s budgetary responsibilities. You can see we have had lots of activity giving way to many opportunities for staff to gain new experience through secondments and take opportunities to further their careers. We have also said farewell to some of our long-standing colleagues. Sheila Bennett,
Meanwhile, the rest of the team have not been sitting on their laurels and four new beautiful library babies bounced into the world. Louise Turnbull, 24/7 Team Leader, was first to give birth to Nathan Shaun Fitzpatrick, closely followed by Stacey Whittle, Library Assistant at the Team Valley Research Reserve, and her baby girl, Ariadne; and the boys were not to be outdone with Ian Johnson, Head of Special Collections, adding baby number three, Thomas Elliott, to his now trio of boys and, last but not least, baby George arrived to Scott Bradley, Web Developer. Parents and babies are all doing well, if not slightly sleep deprived, and our congratulations go out to all of them. All in all it has been another eventful year in the Library and with the start of the new academic year fast approaching we prepare for more to come, as Heraclitus said “There is nothing permanent except change.” Joan Hulme
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Supporting students with online learning resources Academic Skills Toolkit The Library plays a central role in students’ learning, not just for the resources they need, but also the study skills they develop. Our liaison team provides advice on information literacies (e.g. finding, selecting and using information) and the Writing Development Centre (based in the Library) offers guidance on a range of study skills – from revision to essay planning. However, until recently, study skills provision has been fragmented across the university, leaving students and staff uncertain of what is available and how to access it. The Academic Skills Kit (ASK)
is a new website that brings together information on each of the services, offering study support, together with online resources. ASK is the outcome of a project jointly proposed by the Library and Student Wellbeing and led by the Writing Development Centre. It has brought together a wide range of university teams, from the Library to the Chaplaincy and from the Specialist Learning Team to the Student Union Advice Centre, into an online ‘one-stop shop’. Here, students can find not only academic skills advice, but also signposting to the most appropriate service for their needs. The site has been one of the most-visited parts of the University’s internal website. The benefits of the project can be found ‘behind the scenes’ too – it has brought about much more collaboration between the university teams and working
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together closely has led to a more coherent, consistent offering to students. It has also offered the opportunity for joint professional development in our teaching clinics and led to initiatives such as our cross-team drop-ins at key times of the academic year. The ASK project has also run closely alongside a second Library project, creating online study resources…
Miles and Olivia
Online Learning Resources
to create the professional standard of resource which today’s students expect.
In response to an increasing demand to support for students’ information literacy and academic skills, the Library’s liaison team has been exploring new and innovative ways to deliver their teaching and guidance to large student cohorts.
Two students, Miles and Olivia, worked with the liaison team in 2015 to consult students about their experiences and preferences with regard to online learning resources.
We had long been keen to develop online learning resources, but lacked the specialist technical skills within the team
Miles and Olivia’s findings enabled us to develop our ideas into a project. To turn our ideas into resources, Terry Charlton was appointed as a Learning Technologist in 2016 to develop high quality online learning resources and champion new ways of teaching digitally. Working closely with the liaison team and the Writing Development Centre, Terry has developed a range of videos suitable for online delivery to staff and students. These videos cover the main information literacy skills areas, from finding
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information, through to evaluating and managing it. The videos are three or four minutes long, and adopt a modern, engaging, casual production style that resonates with modern students. They are hosted on YouTube and can be accessed on mobile devices as well as PCs. In their first six months, the videos have attracted over nine thousand views, and have been used in library teaching and online courses. In a September 2017 survey of over 500 students, 60% rated the videos as excellent and 34% as good. Free-text responses were very encouraging, including comments such as “Excellent and interesting content”, “Clear and concise”, and “Easy to understand”. To complement these videos and enhance important study skills topics
on the ASK website, we have also developed several online quizzes. These are designed to grab attention, reinforce the academic skills message, signpost traffic to library support, and ultimately encourage students to reflect on their learning. In the coming months, we also plan to release a new interactive dissertation planning tool. This will guide students through the steps needed to propose a research question and plan their literature search. It’s an exciting time and we look forward to sharing the results of our work in the near future. To visit the ASK website and see all the resources, please go to ncl.ac.uk/ask. Terry Charlton, Lucy Keating and Helen Webster
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Taming the Reading List Beast Like many academic libraries, we have struggled with the management of reading lists for a number of years. The lists of essential books and resources provided by academics for modules are vital to ensure that the Library can provide the best materials to support our students. However, gaining access to the lists in a timely way can be problematic and practices vary across each of the faculties. In addition, our existing Reading Lists Online database was built in-house and was beginning to show its age, which made life difficult for everyone involved in the reading list process. In September 2017, the library implemented a new reading list system – Leganto. The system belongs to the same family of products as our catalogue and our back-end library management system and we are already seeing improvements
in linking between these systems. We can show availability information much more quickly, and it is fully integrated into the University’s Virtual Learning Environment (Blackboard), which means that students can access lists seamlessly from within their course modules. The new interface is attractive and intuitive and offers the opportunity for academic staff to manage their own lists – saving time and making lists available to students more quickly. From the new academic year (2018/19), we will be running a pilot scheme to encourage academics to input their own reading lists with help and training from library staff. When implementing Leganto, we have taken the opportunity to look carefully at all of our workflows related to reading lists, and have worked hard to eliminate inefficiencies and differing practices across the academic schools. There is still
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quite a bit of work to do in this area, but we can already see improvements and we hope that this will help with the challenge of processing the deluge of reading lists that arrive at the start of the new academic year. You can access the new system from the Library homepage www.ncl.ac.uk/ library. If you have any feedback or comments about the new system, we would be delighted to hear from you at libraryhelp@ncl.ac.uk. Paula Fitzpatrick on behalf of the Reading List team
A New Look for our Subject Guides Over the past year, we’ve been busy revamping our subject guides. For those unfamiliar with them, these are webpages which Library staff create and edit. The
guides bring together information to help students and staff identify the best resources for their subject area. Currently, the Library has over 100 published guides. Since their implementation in 2011, the guides had become cluttered and unmanageable. There was a lack of consistency between guides, which made them confusing to users. The aim of the project was to make the guides more relevant, user-friendly and easier for Library staff to maintain and update. Initially, the project team reviewed existing guides to identify those that could be deleted or archived. Then, we looked at other universities’ subject guides and sketched ideas of how ours could look, taking into account usability and accessibility. As a result, we decided to introduce a new template across all subject guides. We chose a clearer
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layout with a standard homepage to highlight key resources, fewer tabs and more images to make the content visually appealing and accessible. We also embedded the Library’s visual identity into the new guides to create a more consistent experience for users moving between the guides and the library website. The new subject guides launched in January but work on the project is ongoing to gain feedback from users and to create best practice guidance to ensure the guides are maintained to a high standard. You can have a look at our new guides at www.ncl.ac.uk/library/subject-support. Christina Taylor on behalf of the Subject Guides Team
YourSpace & Walton Library Refurbishments The last two years have seen some major refurbishments at all three library sites: not only do we have an entirely new library building (see the article on page 13) but the Philip Robinson Library and the Walton Library have also undergone a significant revamp. The refurb has been informed by the invaluable work carried out by our Customer Services team, who evaluated the use of our existing study spaces across all of the University Libraries. Consequently, we have been able to deliver more of the features students told us they valued. During the summer of 2017, the refurbishment of YourSpace on Level 1 of the Philip Robinson Library was completed. The collaborative group study space now benefits from more group
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study tables, more individual study desks with power and more group study rooms, as well as a new boardroom-style room. We have also introduced a bookable Skype room and some new study cocoons. The space has been designed so that it is flexible and can be easily transformed into an individual silent study area during exam times when this kind of space is in high demand. The Walton Library has also been refurbished and reconfigured to make better use of the available space. The changes were ready to reveal to library users in time for the start of the 2017/18 academic year. The library now has a more open, airy and contemporary feel as well as additional study spaces and a brand new social study area. Some highlights of the remodelled library include a purpose-furnished academic skills area (The Snug), more spaces with power and USB points, self-service
book return and very beautiful new bookshelf end panel covers, designed by Mick Sharp and produced by our Print Services team. The result is a thorough modernisation that makes the most of the high-rise location and re-energises the space. Library Space Development Group
Official Opening of the Marjorie Robinson Library Rooms and further developments The Marjorie Robinson Library Rooms was officially opened at a special ceremony on 30th March 2017, just over a year after it first opened its doors to students. The building is named in honour of Marjorie Robinson, the wife of Philip Robinson, a local bookseller and philanthropist after whom the main campus library is named.
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Both were keen friends of the library, and major benefactors to the University. Professor Chris Day, Vice-Chancellor and President of Newcastle University, unveiled a plaque at the ceremony and presented Nicki Bolton (Philip and Marjorie Robinson’s great-niece and Co-Trustee of the Philip and Marjorie Robinson Charitable Trust) with a specially-bound book detailing the history of the Robinson brothers. The Friends of the University Library also kindly commissioned some beautiful display boards about the Robinson Family to celebrate the formal opening of the building. These can be found on the ground floor of the building so do come along for a visit if you haven’t seen them yet.
Annabel Allott, Co-Trustee, Philip and Marjorie Robinson Charitable Trust; Professor Chris Day; Nicki Bolton; Michael Chaplin, President of Friends of the University Library and Jill Taylor-Roe.
The final phase of the Marjorie Robinson Library Rooms refurbishment begins this summer. During this phase, we will be looking to improve heating and ventilation in the building and the lift facility, as well as refurbishing the top two floors of the building. This means that when it re-opens in September 2018 the whole building will have undergone a total refurbishment. We will have created an additional 700 study spaces across five floors in a variety of styles – from silent to collaborative – to suit a range of study needs. Jessie Salmon
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Captivating Collections, Events and Exhibitions
Newcastle University’s Special Collections and Archives service given national recognition We are delighted to report that Newcastle University’s Special Collections and Archives service has been awarded Archive Service Accreditation. A UK-wide quality standard, Archive Service Accreditation provides a benchmark for gauging performance, recognising achievement and driving improvement within the archive sector. The award gives us national recognition for the standard of service we provide and places us amongst other accredited archival services including the Natural History Museum and National Portrait Ian Johnson, Head of Special Collections and Archives, Geraldine Hunwick, Senior Archivist
Gallery. In its assessment report the accreditation panel noted: “It is evident that the service provides a real and recognised asset to the University in supporting teaching, research, learning and widening participation.” The report went on to commend our written submission which, it said, “gave a picture of an effective and well-managed service.” We are thrilled to have received this national recognition. It marks the culmination of an incredible amount of work by the whole team to review and enhance our service provision. Having Accredited Archive status means we and our users can be confident that the unique and distinctive collections in our care are being curated to the highest standards. Special Collections and Archives supports the University’s teaching, research and engagement activity by collecting, preserving and promoting access to unique and distinctive books and archives, which it makes available not only to the academic community but to the wider public. These rich collections are also of great importance to our vibrant and award-winning educational outreach programme for local schools.
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Gertrude Bell Archive added to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register The prestigious and ever-popular Gertrude Bell Archive, co-curated by Special Collections and the School of Archaeology, has been added to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in recognition of its global significance. Gertrude Bell was an extraordinary British woman who travelled widely in the early 20th Century as an archaeologist, mountaineer and explorer. She was also a diplomat and was unique in having worked in the British administration of Iraq during the creation of that state in the early 1920s. We have held her extensive collection of letters, diaries, and photographs since the late 1920s, making it one of the Library’s
Gertrude Bell
first unique and distinctive research resources. With close to 10,000 unique items, the archive provides a record of the people and cultural contexts from multiple ethnic and religious groups living through the transition from the Ottoman Empire of the late 19th century to the establishment of the modern Turkish, Syrian, Iraqi, and Jordanian states. The photographs preserve a precious record of these communities, many of which have changed dramatically over the past century. It is one of only a few archives to be recognised in this way in the UK; we are currently the only University outside of Oxford and Cambridge to have had a collection accepted onto the UNESCO Register. Transcripts of Gertrude Bell’s letters, diaries and digital copies of her extensive photograph albums, are available to browse at www.gerty.ncl. ac.uk/.
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Collected Voices Special Collections launched a new oral history interface called Collected Voices in December 2017. The site features oral history interviews with some of the depositors behind our Special Collections and Archives. These recordings give a unique insight into creators, collectors, and significant figures with close links to our distinctive resources. They are less a life history, and more a privileged subjective look at the conception and provenance of individual records. We have already recorded some fantastic interviews. Michael Chaplin, writer, former television executive and President of the Friends of the University Library, features on the site. He talks about winning his very first short story competition, his early career as a journalist for The Journal, and pitching the idea for his Michael Chaplin
Peter Mortimer
television series Grafters, which starred Robson Green and Stephen Tompkinson. There is an interview with Peter Mortimer of IRON Press, which includes anecdotes about publishing David Almond before he was famous and the process of producing the very first issue of IRON Magazine. Peter and Margaret Lewis, founders of Flambard Press, were also kind enough to give an interview about publishing their first poetry pamphlet, their memories of a reading by Ted Hughes in Durham and their experience of John Murray being longlisted for the Booker Prize for his novel Jazz etc. We look forward to adding more interviews to the site very soon. You can listen to the interviews at www. ncl.ac.uk/library/special-collections/ digital-resources/oral-history/. Rachel Hawkes
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Uncovering the Story of Elizabeth Blenkinsopp’s General Pardon In the recently gifted Layard/Blenkinsopp Coulson Archive, we were delighted and intrigued to find a royal general pardon document dating back to 1469, making it one of the oldest manuscript items in Special Collections. Written in Medieval Latin, the pardon was granted by Edward IV to Elizabeth Blenkinsopp of Blenkinsopp in Northumberland for what it describes as ‘general transgressions’. The general pardon is a fabulous example of letters patent bearing the Great Seal of Edward IV. It is densely packed with information in the form of voluminous and archaic legal terminology and it is full of fascinating glimpses into the medieval mindset and legal system. Thus, rendering its content into something meaningful to modern understanding can be challenging.
Our research into the document so far indicates that it does not contain any explicit description of Elizabeth Blenkinsopp’s transgressions against the Crown; rather it contains a litany of stock phrases and legal jargon relating to generic types of transgression and crime. But the inclusion of a list of persons not to be pardoned, and references to the Castle and town of Harlech, seem to link this document with events of the Siege of Harlech Castle (1461- 1468), famous for being the longest siege in British history and a crucial chapter in the Wars of the Roses. Dr Simon Harris and the Ranulf Higden Society, a group of researchers who specialise in transcribing and translating Medieval Latin documents, are currently working on producing a full translation of the General Pardon for us. Geraldine Hunwick
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Wordsworth and new frontiers in digitisation The Library has been busy collaborating with colleagues at Cambridge University on a major pilot project to digitise all of William Wordsworth’s manuscripts. Routledge have commissioned Professor Michael Rossington, an expert in Romantic Literature, to publish a new edition of the poet’s works. In parallel to this publication, which will be completed between 2023 and 2030, Michael and his counterpart at Cambridge University, Dr Ruth Abbott, are keen to produce an online version, charting Wordsworth’s drafts across notebooks and letters to show how they came to be the published versions revered and cherished today. Special Collections were invited to become part of this pilot and have been collaborating with the digitisation unit at Cambridge University Library to show Maciej Pawlikowski, Cambridge University Library
John Williams and Maciej Pawlikowski
major funders what could be possible with this project. The pilot has focused on a selection of manuscripts relating to the lyrical ballad The Ruined Cottage and, in early 2017, we had an initial planning session at the Wordsworth Trust in Grasmere, where the majority of the archive is housed. As part of this session we digitised some of the manuscripts - the task of digitising ‘on location’ was a first for us. Our Digitisation Assistant Mick Sharp then went on to photograph related letters from Samuel Coleridge, which are held at Coleridge Cottage and the Bristol Reference Library, using the techniques learnt through our collaboration with Cambridge colleagues. This would not have been possible without the support of the Friends of the University
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Library, who funded these opportunities. We are now looking forward to creating an exhibition about the project as part of the celebrations for the 250th anniversary of Wordsworth’s birth in 2020. Ian Johnson
To Honour a Great and Good Man: Martin Luther King at Newcastle University Special Collections was both a key facilitator of, and a contributor to, the award-winning Freedom City 2017 (FC2017) project which ran last year to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Dr Martin Luther King being awarded an honorary degree by Newcastle University, the only UK University to honour him this way in his lifetime.
Ambassador Andrew Young
Our exhibition in the Philip Robinson Library, To Honour a Great and Good Man, formed part of the official FC2017 programme of events. It told the story of Dr King’s visit to Newcastle using original documents and photographs from the University Archives, as well as some items kindly lent to us by members of the public, such as the pocket-handkerchief given by Dr. King to Edna Kane, the ViceChancellor’s housekeeper, before the honorary degree ceremony. We were delighted that Brian Ward, Professor of American Studies at Northumbria University and an academic authority on Dr King’s visit to Newcastle, agreed to guest-curate the exhibition for us and deliver an excellent talk for the Friends of the University Library. The exhibition was one of our most successful to date, and was even featured on BBC’s Look North!
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With the generous support of the FC2017 project, Special Collections has created an online resource, Martin Luther King at Newcastle University, which features digitised versions of the key documents and photographs that relate to this important event. We hope that the online resource will preserve and continue the legacy of Dr King and FC2017 for current and future audiences. It can be viewed at www.ncl.ac.uk/library/special-collections/ digital-resources/martin-luther-king. Geraldine Hunwick
View our unique books anywhere with Page Turners In April 2017, Special Collections launched its new, free-to-access, online book viewer. Page Turners allows us to make unique and rare volumes from our
collections available to view remotely in a web browser. Page Turners features animated page turning and additional information about each item. The first items to be made available include Petre’s Gradual, a fourteenth century music volume [ROB 405, Robinson (Marjorie and Philip) Collection], an operating theatre logbook detailing procedures performed on soldiers at the 1st Northern General Hospital during World War One [FP/1/3/8-9, Pybus (Professor Frederick) Archive] and some of the albums compiled by the Trevelyan family of Wallington during the first half of the twentieth century [CPT/PA, Trevelyan (Charles Philips) Archive]. The Trevelyan albums give a strikingly personal insight into the family’s activities through a combination of photographs, newspaper cuttings, sketches and
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ephemera. The albums reflect national events such as World War I and the first Labour government, as well as family celebrations and daily life. The choice of these albums complements ongoing work to create a digital catalogue of the Trevelyan (Charles Philips) Archive, to improve accessibility to this rich and varied resource. You can access Page Turners at newcastleuniversity.onlineculture.co.uk/ ttp/ttp.html. Alex Healey
“Belta, Mint and Enjoyable” – a Civil War Project and a Night at the THELMAs The English Civil War may seem an unlikely topic with which to inspire young people to study English Literature, Food Technology and Biomedical Science at
university, but with an engaging project and some fascinating archival material at your disposal anything is possible. Over four hundred Year 8 students from four local schools were given the opportunity to explore the English Civil War from the perspective of the North East of England. Students participated in a series of bespoke workshops, focusing on one of the four core subject themes. The workshops were closely linked to the National Curriculum and were jointly facilitated by library and academic staff. Students focusing on the biomedical science theme began by exploring the Library’s extensive History of Medicine resources to research historical treatments for gunshot wounds. They followed this up with a visit to the University’s biomedical sciences laboratories to learn about the role of modern antiseptics and antibiotics in the
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treatment of blood loss and wounds. Meanwhile, students pursuing the food technology strand transcribed bread and cake recipes from a seventeenth-century cookery book, converting the ingredients into metric units. They baked their chosen recipes in the University’s food technology suite where they learnt about the chemistry of cooking and compared the nutritional value of contemporary food with that of the seventeenth century. This engaging outreach initiative was featured on a BBC Look North report. One school researched and created their own pop-up museum and visitor trail around Tynemouth Castle. Another studied a seventeenth-century tract describing the defection of Henry Lilburne, Parliamentarian Governor of the Castle. Students then worked with a drama practitioner from the School
of English to write a play about this important moment in local history. The project culminated in a celebration at Tynemouth Priory, co-hosted by English Heritage. Each school selected thirty children to showcase their project work to fellow students, family and friends. The students even took over the English Heritage twitter feed for the day, interviewing visitors and recording videos. Teachers were warm in their praise of the project with one noting, “Our students had a fantastic time and we are so proud of them! … many of them are not the usual students to become involved in events like this – we were amazed at their confidence.” The students were overwhelmingly positive about the project and we received the great compliment that the
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project was, “belta, mint and enjoyable”! We were also delighted to be shortlisted for another Times Higher Education Leadership and Management Award (THELMA) for Outstanding Library Team for the project. This was the sixth year we have been successful in reaching the shortlist. On 21st June, members of the project team attended the awards ceremony at the Grosvenor Park Hotel in London. We lost out to an exciting project by the White Rose Libraries but we are still very proud of our achievement. Sara Bird and Gillian Johnston
Amazing Archives “Their faces lit up when they realised their ideas had been used”. This was the reaction of the pupils from Monkseaton Middle School,
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North Tyneside, when they first saw the Amazing Archives website that they had helped to create. The website was developed as a direct result of our participation in Culture 24’s Let’s Get Real Young Audiences programme: a collaborative action research project which featured 19 varied arts and heritage organisations that all wanted to better reach and engage children and young people with their cultural content online. Taking inspiration from some of the ideas shared at the Let’s Get Real workshops, we decided that we would like to get more children to engage with our unique and distinct Special Collections by working with a local school, a children’s illustrator and a web designer to repackage some of our existing digital content for a younger audience. After an initial visit to the Philip Robinson Library where the children selected their favourite items from Special Collections, an illustrator drew the chosen items and these were used to create a visually appealing homepage. The children’s ideas fed into the illustrations and many other features of the website, which were created by our talented web design team. There were several school visits by our staff so that the pupils could have a lot
of input into the look and functionality of the website. Why not go online and explore our Amazing Archives website for yourselves at archivesalive.ncl.ac.uk/amazing Sara Bird and Gillian Johnston
Special Collections: Exhibition highlights The Library now has two great exhibition spaces available, at the Philip Robinson Library and at the Marjorie Robinson Library Rooms, and the Special Collections and Archives team have been hard at work over the last 18 months curating some fascinating exhibitions. Read on for some of the highlights.
Pupils from Monkseaton Middle School on a visit to the Philip Robinson Library
Professor Pybus in the operating theatre in the First Northern General Hospital, c. 1915
Cataloguing the Collector The Spring 2017 exhibition celebrated the end of our Wellcome Trust-funded cataloguing project with a showcase of items from the Frederick Charles Pybus Collection and Archive. Pybus (18821975) was an esteemed surgeon and professor. He is arguably best known for his collection of historic medical books, held here by Special Collections. On display were items from his personal archive, which reflected his medical career and personal interests. The exhibition was complemented by a talk, which explored Pybus’ origins, his medical career and how Special Collections acquired the Frederick Charles Pybus Collection and Archive.
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Alderson and was designed to show some of the more unusual books and manuscripts in his collection. Brian gathered a wonderful mixture of pieces: the Brothers Grimm rubbed shoulders with Charles Kingsley, while a tribute was paid to those Northumbrian figures of Thomas Bewick illustrating Mother Goose’s Melody and Joseph Ritson with his Gammer Gurton’s Garland. Little Treasures In March 2017, the Little Treasures exhibition presented a treasure trove of unique items from our Special Collections archive and rare book holdings. We uncovered the stories and the people hidden behind our more intriguing and unusual items. The exhibition was inspired by the Special Collections team’s Treasure of the Month online feature and our Education Outreach Team’s Amazing Archives web resource (see page 25). A Lilliputian Miscellany The gift of the Alderson Collection to Newcastle University and Seven Stories was celebrated in our Summer 2017 exhibition. The exhibition was curated by Brian
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The Friends also enjoyed a talk by Brian to accompany the exhibition. The Blaydon Brick: Joseph Cowen Our Winter 2017 exhibition showcased pamphlets and books that were owned by Joseph Cowen Jnr. (1829-1900), alongside portraits, speeches and cartoons from other collections, which explored Joseph Cowen’s political career (he was MP for Newcastle upon Tyne), his support for cultural institutions in the
important early editions of Elements of Geometry and explored some of the ways in which it has influenced later thinking. The exhibition was inspired by Oxford University’s Reading Euclid project. Bloodaxe Books: ‘Unusual, but it shouldn’t be...’
region and the family brickworks that inspired his nickname, the ‘Blaydon Brick’. Dr Joan Allan, Senior Lecturer in the School of History, Classics and Archaelogy delivered a wonderful lecture on the life and career of Joseph Cowen for the Friends. Mathematics: the beauty and uses of Euclid’s Elements of Geometry
To coincide with the Newcastle Poetry Festival 2018, we showcased material from the Bloodaxe Books archive in an exhibition to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the renowned local publisher. Bloodaxe Books has been shaking up the poetry world since it was established in 1978. The publisher has fought to give writers from the North East a voice, to provide a platform for talented poets who are underrepresented elsewhere, and to support revolutionary writers from across the world.
The Spring 2018 exhibition celebrated Euclid, a Greek mathematician who flourished around 300 BC. His Elements of Geometry has been one of the most influential works of all time and served as the main mathematical textbook from its first printing in 1482 until the early twentieth century. This exhibition showcased examples of
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Forthcoming Exhibitions Women’s Suffrage - Autumn 2018, Philip Robinson Library Inspired by the centenary this year of the 1918 Representation of the People Act, which saw the political vote extended to all men and some women over the age of 30, this exhibition will look at the women’s suffrage movement through material held in Special Collections. It will also take a broader look at other people in our collections who worked, lobbied or campaigned for a fairer society or a better way of life. The exhibition will feature, amongst others, Dr Ethel Williams, Lady Caroline Trevelyan, Sir Charles Philips Trevelyan and Elizabeth and Robert Spence Watson.
Dr Ethel Williams
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein - Autumn/ Winter 2018, Marjorie Robinson Library Rooms To celebrate the 200th anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus, Special Collections will be collating some materials that reveal the inspiration behind Shelley’s novel. The novel marked the birth of the science fiction genre and explored themes which would characterise much of Mary Shelley’s subsequent work, such as alienation and solitude, justice and destiny. The Library also holds a range of editions of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, including some great kids’ versions in the Book Trust Collection on Level 1 of the Philip Robinson Library.
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Information for Friends old and new
Priority announcements of any volunteering opportunities Visits to places of local interest with exclusive ‘behind the scenes’ access Skills workshops, for example, our beginner’s guide to palaeography
Your Friends of the University Library membership In return for your membership fee, we offer an engaging programme of events including: Lectures and talks on our celebrated rare books and archival holdings, as well as prominent guest speakers Private guided tours of the Library and its collections Access to our exhibitions and exclusive accompanying talks Invitation to the Friends’ Annual General Meeting Updates via the Friends’ newsletter, website and blog
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To find out more about our programme of events and opportunities, please visit the Friends of the University Library website (friends.ncl.ac.uk) or contact us to join the mailing list.
Flambard Poetry Prize The prize was established in recognition of the achievements of Flambard Press and its founders Margaret and Peter Lewis. Between 1990 and 2012, Flambard Press published an acclaimed range of poetry and fiction and helped to nurture
Becoming a member Membership of the Friends is open to anyone with an interest in the Library, and is a fantastic way for our alumni and former staff to stay connected with the institution and its activities.
Lydia Kennedy
many emergent writers regionally and nationally. It was recognised as one of the finest small independent presses in the UK. When the press closed, Margaret and Peter generously donated the Archive to the Library. In honour of this gift, the Friends of the University Library agreed to sponsor an annual poetry prize.
If you would like to become a member of the Friends of the University Library there is an application form on page 34 of this booklet, or you can download a copy of the form from our website: friends.ncl. ac.uk. You can pay by annual subscription (currently ÂŁ12 per annum) or you can become a lifetime member for a one-off fee (currently ÂŁ150).
The Flambard Poetry Prize is awarded annually to the best group of up to five poems submitted by a poet who has not yet published a single-authored pamphlet or collection. The winner of the 2017 Flambard Poetry Prize was Lydia Kennedy. Her collection of poems, which are all linked by the theme of travelling on foot, drew high praise from the judges, poets Ellen Phethean and Rebecca Goss. The runner-up was Natalie Rees.
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Contact Details Friends Membership & Events Enquiries 0191 208 7651 (Joan Hulme) lib-friends@newcastle.ac.uk Special Collections Exhibitions & Events 0191 208 7112 lib-speccoll@newcastle.ac.uk General Library Enquiries 0191 208 7662 libraryhelp@newcastle.ac.uk
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Please complete the form and send it, together with a cheque for the relevant amount made payable to ‘Newcastle University’, to: The University Librarian, Philip Robinson Library, Jesmond Road West, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HQ
University Library Newcastle University Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU United Kingdom Tel: 0191 208 7662 Email: lib-friends@newcastle.ac.uk Web: friends.ncl.ac.uk